Fastest Run By A Quincy Flathead 6 cylinder?

[Gene East]

I stand corrected.

In an earlier post I said Jerry Peterson once held the record for the fastest time ever recorded at Alex with a 6 deflector.

As Bill stated later following a phone call with Jerry the motor was a 6 looper.
Sorry for the error. All of us who are of that vintage are in the 60-70 year old range. Some of our old racing buddies are well past that age. An occasional "senior moment" is bound to creep in from time to time.

Thanks for correcting mine!

Our sport of alky burning outboards from the 50's through the 70's was far more popular than it is today. Major races often required finishing first or second in qualifying heats to enter the finals.

Unfortunately, with the exception of Wayne Baldwin and Tim Chance, there isn't a lot of written history of our sport. Thanks to both you guys for sharing your information through forums like BRF. Without it we would have to rely totally on the memories of "old farts" like Bill and me.

I did receive an email last night from Jerry Peterson. He told me that he has been following BRF for about 2 years now and enjoys doing so. Jerry did say he doesn't type as fast as he drove a boat so he's been reluctant to post here.

Jerry, thanks for your email, but please join us on this forum. There's no starting gun and no checkerred flag. Just type at your own speed and nobody knows the difference.

[Frank Volker]

For some reason, I can't recall Gerry's 4-cyl setups, but I do recall that both Bob and Gerry's setups for 'A' and 'B' were always tucked under much more than anything we (QW) or most guys ran. With that said, I'm sure when Gerry set the 'D' record, that his setup differed somewhat from a competition setup. This is probably why he said "almost competition", as I stated in my post.

[Tim Chance]

Unfortunately, with the exception of Wayne Baldwin and Tim Chance, there isn't a lot of written history of our sport.

I'll go back and see if I have anything. I don't think I'll have anything on Gerry, but I was there in Burlington when Bill Fales blew over in his runabout.

[RichardKCMo]

Hope to read some facts from yrs. gone by. I've been called a wannabe on occassion , probly right , have missed some races as a spectator.
Look forward to hearing (THIS AIN'T No S***T Stories.
RichardKCMo

[Master Oil Racing Team]

I think we all pretty much agree on Gerry's run. What you say about "almost competition" to me Frank means it was basically Gerry's set up, but when you have to wind it up so much down a long...long straight and start hearing and feeling sensations you don't get in the heat of the battle it makes it an almost competition set up. He didn't have to look inside or over his shoulder as he approached a turn and didn't have to worry about accelerating out of the turn to keep another boat on his hip. The main concern was to keep enough plywood friction free...the motor screaming, breathing, and liking it...the lower unit taking all that power and transferring it to a prop that GERRY thought would get him to the end of the traps at the speed he hoped for without breaking. To do that he took what he knew his rig could do under racing conditions and made adjustments for a one man, two bouy long competition race against the clock.

[RichardKCMo]

If anyone Has ever Raced at Long Bitch They know everything you just said is true, except it lasts for several laps. Seperates winners and losers fast. thanks for the input. Keep it coming.
RichardKCMo.

[Jerry Peterson]

Gene,I dont think you were having a real senoir moment about the deflector 6
The day we set the F hydro record at Alex with our Flathead 6,Charley Redmond of Savannah,Ga. made several impressive passes with his delector 6.
That guy was fast and made beautifull music with his Quincy.

[Bill Van Steenwyk]

Really happy to see you made it on, especially after our long talk yesterday afternoon. As soon as we hung up, I thought of about a dozen other things I wanted to ask and tell you.

Now you are an offficial member of the "old fart, hunt and peck group."
I look forward, as I know the rest that post here do, to hearing, as the announcer on the Lone Ranger used to say, some "stirring tales of yesteryear"

At least I think that was the Lone Ranger. I do know for sure it was the Shadow that pressed his wrist. If nothing else, this will help pass the time for you on those cold Minnesota winter evenings.

[Gene East]

Welcome Jerry!!!!

[Master Oil Racing Team]

Glad to hear from you Jerry. It was great visiting with you at DePue. Looking forward to your stories.

Gene....not to be critical, but there is a LOT of written history on alky racing in the 50's and 60's. By the time I started it was very scarce, but looking at the magazines that Johnny Dortch sent me I was amazed at how much coverage there was. I was surprised to see that many of the guys I raced with went back so far. Hydroplanes Quarterly was the best publication for us because of the solid, in-depth coverage. But Tim Chance had already been putting together pieces in previous publications prior to publishing HQ. I have all the magazines that Johnny sent me organized by publication, month and year, but until I get some book shelves up to be able to keep them and my racing pictures more organized, I won't be doing too much scanning on them. I'm not a real writer. I just had to start writing in order to get my pictures published in Powerboat. I must say it was fun though.

Jerry, I think I still have your contact information, but I'm not sure. Joe Rome also types pretty slow so you will notice his posts are short and to the point. I talk to Joe just about every day and we cover many subjects. Sometimes Joe tells me things I had forgotten about and it is usually something that brings up some laughs. What I do a lot with Joe is get my memory refreshed, then I post it on BRF. Ron also does that with some of his friends. So if you have anything that takes time in telling that you want to get out here and don't want to be sitting at the keyboard for so long, give me a pm and we'll get together.